Sacramento – Today, the Governor signed into law landmark legislation that will modernize California’s initiative process. The Ballot Initiative Transparency Act (Senate Bill 1253, carried by pro Tem Darrell Steinberg) will ensure that the state’s initiative process is more easily accessible to the average voter by providing Californians with greater transparency and input.

“The bill has unusual bipartisan support from groups across the political spectrum,” said Kathay Feng, Executive Director for California Common Cause. “At a time when all we see is partisan divide, California Common Cause is proud to have helped pull together a broad coalition that found common ground for reforming our broken initiative system.” BITA is supported by a diverse group of organizations that includes the League of Women Voters of California, California Common Cause, California Business Roundtable, California Calls, California NAACP, California AARP, Think Long Committee for California, California Forward, and the California Chamber of Commerce, among others.

This bill speaks to the concerns of California voters who want reliable and understandable sources of information that clearly describe the issues and proposed solutions. It will give voters more accessible information about who is behind each initiative, allow legal flaws to be corrected in initiatives before appearing on the ballot, and simplify the ballot by allowing proponents to withdraw initiatives.

“Today is a true victory for California voters,” said Sarah Swanbeck, Legislative Affairs Advocate with CA Common Cause. “We thank Governor Brown for taking this important step in modernizing California’s century-old initiative process and ensuring that California voters will have a more transparent initiative system going forward.”